This invention relates to a rack-and-pinion type steering gear for automotive vehicles.
This type of steering gear includes a rack bar reciprocating along its axis in a rack housing in association with rotation of a pinion which is in meshed engagement with the rack bar. The rack bar is received by a rack guide at a position where the pinion is meshed with rack teeth of the rack bar.
A conventional rack guide is made of a sintered metal and the like and is accommodated in a rack guide hole formed in the rack housing. There is normally defined an annular clearance between an inner peripheral surface of the guide hole and an outer peripheral surface of the rack guide, which clearance is necessary upon inserting the rack guide into the guide hole along its axis. As a result, when an external force having different directions and magnitudes is applied to the rack bar during rough raod running of automotive vehicles, the rack guide vibrates in the guide hole mainly owing to the clearance, thereby causing generation of a noise in some cases.